(2110) Beyond the Carousel

[Gerrit]

Continued from (2110) Eternal Seasons...

Gerrit walked around the carousel and towards the pair of benches at the side of the path. He immediately felt a bit better, like not having to extend so much energy in socializing with a handful of other Lost.
Of course he couldn't shake the feeling that he would remain alone over there, but he wouldn't break and come crawling back. No, he would enjoy the Autumn evening on his own if he had to.

The Ogre buried his hands in his pockets and sat down.

[Rlyeh]

Continued from (2110) Eternal Seasons...

Quickly R'lyeh follows Gerrit's steps. Faster then quickly. Probably. It might have looked like she ran, fleeing. Fled. Coward-sacavenger-blight-upon-the.

Well. Trying to talk to one mean faced dwarf was one thing, but having to talk to a handful more without having hyped oneself up to it. Another.

"...hi." she mumbles out, "Is it okay that I followed you? I just couldn't didn't want to uh." eye tracking the other side of the carousel where the others were still doing the talking and smiling and being people things that was so hard to do without a mental script. "....hi." she defaults to, trying to smile but it might have turned to something more akin to a grimace.

[Gerrit]

The speed at which R'lyeh followed made Gerrit think he made the right call. He knew how hypocritical he was (considering how he didn't want to be pitied), but he couldn't help feeling sorry for the fox. Some people just couldn't really deal with big groups - much less when the Queen of Wrath was swinging around her boisterous disposition.

He tried his shot at giving the Elemental a reassuring smile, although the effect of that smile was probably questionable at best: his mien didn't help, and neither did the fact that he really was out of practice when it came to smiling. But that shared inability might actually lead to her feeling more comfortable. "Don't worry, that was kind of the idea for splitting up the group." He looked at R'lyeh more closely for a moment, then caught himself and gave her some space again.

"So, how is Sacramento treating you thus far?" An open ended question, really but since he didn't know her better that was everything he was comfortable asking. She seemed nervous as is, there was no need to stumble over any potential mines.

[Rlyeh]

"Good." she says, a subtle tension leaving her, "Good," she repeats, nodding. "I uh. Thank you. I didn't-wouldn't-think of that. Isn't it rude? I think that people would think it was rude. But I can't tell. So. Normally I'd stay. Quiet and small. Because. Uh. Well. Yeah." she manages, swallowing.

"It has been okay-good. I have my space, and can find food, and sometimes I get money which is nice! I even have a phone now!" she grins, bright, toothy and more then a little vulpine.

"And-uh-are you....good? Okay? Not? Did I interrupt your aloneness. I can leave-back-to-the-others-if-you-want!" she spits out in a rush.

[Gerrit]

R'lyeh was stuttering through her excuses and justifications and suddenly it hit Gerrit: he might sympathize with the Elemental because she reminded him of himself about a year ago. Well, he probably wasn't as bashful.. was he? In any case he had changed quite a bit. He considered her question for a moment and ultimately shrugged. "Why would it be rude? I stated my intend and even invited anyone who wanted to join us." He looked around their clearly mostly deserted side of the carousel. "And those who wanted to did."

He frowned briefly in thought. "Uhm, I can appreciate taking other people into consideration, but you shouldn't put your needs beyond those of everyone else." Was he being too direct? He almost wanted to apologize for giving out unwanted life-advice in the literal third sentence they've talked to each other but decided against it. He'd grown to like not being a doormat for the whole Freehold, so bringing others to see the light seemed the right thing to do.


He nodded along when she told him about the 'okay-good' things happening in her life. "Good to hear. Sacramento seems to be like that for folks." Of course he had no idea how little R'lyeh needed to mark that as a win. Neither did he want to tell her about how quickly things can turn south - which is why he also put some enthusiasm into his answer. "No, don't worry I'm fine! Unless you want to go back to the more preppy folks." He could very well imagine that the conversation was too somber or boring for the fox. Dealing with emotions and those fine social subtleties was hard enough, and his limited experience with Elementals and Beasts showed that they probably had it even harder. Gerrit scooted a bit closer to the edge of the bench to make her more room in case she wanted to sit and needed it.

[Saber Sloth]

7 days left!

I'll get to R'lyeh as soon as I can!

[Rlyeh]

R'lyeh takes in the words, but gives Gerrit a look, through the drippy-spilling-spatters of her hair, that made it clear she didn't believe the Ogre. The look lingers longer then it should, drifting into suspicion when the Winter scoots over. It takes her even longer to blink, befuddled, at the action. Then longer still realize why he did it.

"Oh no. I don't want to get you-your-self-clothes dirty." she says, keeping her distance. Chewing her lip and tap-tap-tapping her fingers against her leg. Then seems to shrug, at least internally, and she sits on the ground. Smiling up at Gerrit. "See! I don't wanna go back to the group of many, because that's a lot. But-not-really-but-it-feels-like-it." she nods, ears flip-flopping and hair drip-dropping.

"How are you?" she asks, belatedly realizing she should have asked that already.

[Gerrit]

Gerrit returned R'lyeh's look with open neutrality. He wasn't stupid, he could imagine what her hang-ups were. But as someone who had spent too much time trying to get bloodstains out of white clothes, someone who ultimately gave and and just defaulted to darker colors he barely saw a problem. In fact he felt a wave of pity and sadness coming up, felt it threatening to drown him in years of self-loathing and pain. There was a time where he didn't really think about how he looked anymore, until one summery Elemental called him beautiful for his scars, put the unspoken statement that there was no such thing as 'objective beauty' out there-

1 success

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2021-11-17 03:27:34	Gerrit rolls 5 to not get overwhelmed (Resolve 2 + Comp 3; curse)	8, 4, 6, 4, 2	1 success

Gerrit forced himself to cough, forced something in his throat to come lose and spat out a bloody chunk on the ground next to him. It hurt, but it replaced the pity and sorrow with cold and bitterness. It brought him back to the here and now. "Sorry about that." He considered reassuring her that he didn't worry about his clothes, but then just scooted back where he sat earlier. He got the impression that it would take a whole lot of time to change her mind on that. "Then that's set, I guess. You want to be here and I'm happy for the company." And the bigger group seemed to grow bigger still. He couldn't quite make out the newcomer from here, but he didn't really care either.

For now he gave R'lyeh his attention. "I'm good, thank you." That almost became second nature, so even though her timing might have been off, the stock answer was ready. As were the questions every Lost had to answer probably around a dozen times whenever they arrived somewhere new. "Can I ask what brought you here? What do you like to do with your time?" Thing is, those weren't stock questions for him. They've just proven to be the safest options to find common ground - that is, if they didn't want to contemplate their off-putting mien together.

[Rlyeh]

R'lyeh blinks up at Gerrit, tilting her head as her ears flick. She didn't know why he was apologising. But she did know that he was saying words to say them. Being polite. There was no way he was actually happy to have her as company. But he did say it, so he had to pretend. At least for a little while.

"Good that you're good." she says. Nodding, hair dripping, ears flopping.

She pulls her legs close, tail whipping around to wrap around her feet. "I came here because it is very far away from New York." she admits. "How long have you been here?" she asks before blinking, "Oh sorry-I-mean-I-like-the-uh-library!" she gets out quickly, realizing she should answer before she asks.

[Gerrit]

It was weird - it didn't seem like either of the two Lost was particularly good at or interested in the small-talk found so often. But with neither of them completely letting their guard down that's what they were stuck with. At least, that's how Gerrit saw the situation.

A thoughtful nod when she talked about this being far away from New York. "I see. Are you here to start a new life as well?" And he almost asked her about not having a Mantle. Maybe that was also him projecting his past into the new arrival, but one might think that the safety of a court would be just what R'lyeh needed.

He was about to answer her question when she hurriedly changed the topic. It took the dumbfounded Ogre a moment to catch up, then an awkward smile showed up on his face. "Oh, so you like to read? What kind of books are your favourite? Me, I've been here for a little over a year." The gruff voice took on an almost melancholic quality. To work against it, he opted to tell a bit more of himself. "I actually work with flowers and would say that's one of my favourite hobbies." Although he certainly had lost some of the passion he used to have. It felt more like an obligation, a facet to his new life than anything else.

4 successes

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2021-11-20 04:14:18	Gerrit rolls 6 to hide his melancholy (Man 2 + Subter 2 + Mantle 1 + Specialty 1) (10 Again)	4, 6, 10, 10, 3, 8, 10, 5, 4	4 successes

What was he doing? He didn't know the Elemental at all - if he wouldn't allow his friends to notice what was wrong with him, he'd have to be doubly vigilant hiding his emotions to people he'd just met. Gerrit's mantle flared subtly, his facial expression stayed neutral. That melancholic tone in his voice? Probably fond memories of his time spent in Sacramento.

Right.

"I actually own a flower shop. If you ever feel like you need anything feel free to drop by." Because offering help and hospitality was easy for him, despite everything that had happened. He fished out a small card with the address to Rosie's Roses out of his wallet and extended it towards the Elemental.